NHS needs more beds to fight winter breathing problems

A new report has argued that hospitals must provide more beds in the winter months to deal with the rising numbers of adults and children who struggle to breathe in wintery conditions.

Out in the cold, published by the British Lung Foundation, warns that the ongoing failure to address a predictable and obvious seasonal variation in respiratory admissions is at the heart of the UK’s A&E winter crisis, potentially causing patients needless harm.

The charity’s report found that respiratory admissions peaked in December 2016 at 32,492, considerably above the average of 10,652 for the 20 most commons disease areas. Additionally, there are 80 per cent more lung disease admissions in the winter months of December, January and February compared to in March, April and May.

This annual fluctuation has consistently repeated over the last seven years, yet many hospitals have failed to adapt their services to cope with the surge in respiratory admissions. Despite knowledge of these facts, only 10 of the 104 hospital trusts who responded to requests for information from the British Lung Foundation on their 2017/18 winter plans said they were going to give more beds to people admitted for lung conditions.

The Out in the cold report recommends an improvement in prevention strategies, such as the annual flu jab, in order to reduce general respiratory infections and help people who have an existing lung condition to better manage it themselves. More immediately, the NHS needs to adapt its services to address this seasonality and prevent unavoidable respiratory admissions.

Penny Woods, chief executive of the foundation, said: “Year after year we are seeing an influx of patients admitted to A&E with respiratory conditions. Despite this our analysis reveals that many hospitals are woefully unprepared. This is at a great cost to patients who suffer as a result. Taking a more seasonal approach to supporting people with lung disease will reduce needless attendances and admissions and ultimately improve patient care and outcomes.”